Microsoft pauses Windows 7 public beta due to overwhelming demand

Anyone who thought that the Windows era was on the way out obviously didn’t see Windows 7 coming: Due to overwhelming demand for the public beta version, which was originally released Friday as a Web download, Microsoft has had to retrench and add capacity. Until that happens, the download is offline for a bit.

Due to very heavy traffic we’re seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta. We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta, and I’ll be posting here again soon once the beta goes live. Stay tuned! We are excited that you are excited!

Why they didn’t just do this before the download is, of course, unclear. PR stunt?